I have Windows XP Home edition on my PC (Dell Dimension with Intel
Pentium 4 processor). I upgraded from Windows Me. I have a profile and
my wife has a profile set up on XP, so we log in as different users.
Lately, after a few days of not using the computer myself, when I try
to launch Internet Explorer in my profile, the mouse becomes and
hourglass for a short period, but nothing happens. IE does not launch.
My wife can still launch IE from her profile, it just does not work on
my profile. I have had to restore the system to an earlier date (which
XP allows). That seems to fix the problem temporarily. It seems
something my wife does in her profile causes a problem with IE in my
profile. Is this enough information to tell me what the problem is? Is
there a way to fix this without restoring my system every time (and so
I don't have this problem with IE anymore)?

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 19 Mar 2004 05:15 PST

Hi wayspring,

Here are some things to try on your computer:

1) Make sure you have all the latest updates of IE6:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.asp#critical

2) Try repairing IE6:
CONTROL PANEL / ADD-REMOVE PROGRAMS / 
Choose "Microsoft Internet Explorer 6" / Click Add/Remove
Choose to "Repair Internet Explorer"

TOOLS / INTERNET OPTIONS / 
3) GENERAL / TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES / DELETE FILES  
4) GENERAL / TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES / DELETE COOKIES
5) GENERAL / HISTORY / CLEAR HISTORY
6) PROGRAMS / RESET WEB SETTINGS (including home page)
7) GENERAL / TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES / SETTINGS / VIEW OBJECTS
   Look for anything unknown or weird and delete it.
8) Try running these programs:

Adaware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

CWShredder:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

HijackThis:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/HijackThis.exe
Tutorial:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html

Please let us know how that goes.

Good luck!
hummer

Hi
You should download windows xp service pack 1 and its updates. Xp have
many bugs expecially if you are upgrading from an unstable version pf
windows like Milenniun.
The better option in this case is to repair the system. 
Thsi is done by booting up with windowx xp cd. When it says that if
you want to install the system you press F8 the it ask again an you
press R to repair the system. That should fix the problem because that
make windows install all the files that may be corrupted or damaged.

If you dont know much about windows installations or repair please ask
a person to help you with that.

Hi Wayspring,

From your description of your problem, it seems very likely that the
fault is not with IE but with your profile.

I'd recommend following the worthy suggestions that Hummer has given
you as a matter of course. Once that's done, if you are still
experiencing the problem, you should recreate your profile.

1. Login as the local administrator rather than yourself.
2. Copy your profile to somewhere safe.
3. Delete your profile.
4. Create a new profile.

Your problem should have disappeared.

Best of luck.

Poe
Google Answers Researcher